What's improved over gcII

I'm a big fan of Galciv II, But even with the fan patches it has some issues i find. Some AI issues/bugs, and at times personality seems lacking. I also feel at times, much of the threats feel like a bunch of hot air.. Like the drengin just having a couple planets, or even when thallan's own half of space they don't do much in the way of threaten anyone. Terrans are the ones that do have a bit of bark i find, as if they are on the map they are pretty much the biggest competition. But even depsite all that, i find the game tons of fun. but i have to ask to those playing III, what are the biggest improvements, and are their any things that Galciv II does better?

I also have to wonder about the AI in general, is it improved over II? do the races feel more unique now? I know the animations look pretty fantastic. I have been following the game a bit, Like 64 bit, and 99 races with customs, but what are the real changes between the two?

also, the ship builder, it looks improved as well, i'm currious how big of change is it? Also, do ship improvements effect ships more now? It seems like in the II, often defenses didn't work that great, and reasons too use life support, or even engines was sometimes even pointless, has this changed at all?

any links to any topic you think i might like would be greatly appreciated as well.. Thanks for the help in advance.

Well it's a question that get asked and discussed a lot, so people are probably tired of answering it.

I can say that some of the big differences are ship roles (capital, escort, interceptor, assault, etc.) playing a big role in combat, weapons have been differentiated a little bit more, special resources are pretty cool now, and planet-building is fun now!

The ship designer isn't changed drastically in terms of useability, but it's much more flexible and powerful than it was before. You can scale parts on independent axes (ie, make it longer, taller, etc.) or add rotation, movement, or scaling on different axes too.

Making custom races is great, too.

I can't think of any one thing GC2 does noticeably better than GC3 at this point - except those things that aren't there now: Planet-killers, espionage, a few of the races. Overall I'm quite happy with how this game has turned out, it's fun.

Op did you get the expansions for gc2 in particular ToA gave it a lot more character with per race tech trees and improvements which gc3 has from the start.

gc3 also introduces strategic resources, so where an improvement goes matters. Ship roles for fleet combat. Tech specialisations, shipyard which can be sponsored by multiple planets, an ideology system. Strategic resources, improved ship designer and more. I think their is a journal post laying the differences out somewhere.

wow thanks folks.. and frogboy! It sounds like this game really is a great next step. I just love GCII, so it looks like you will get me to buy GCIII. I have been watching this since the founder thing happened and i am glad to hear that the game has lived up to the GCII rep, and went beyond.

and yea, i guess the Q has been asked a bunch, but i figured with the launch and the game now considered out of beta, i would get a better view of what it was.. Now to save some money so i can grab it. till then GCII's newest patch, that even frogboy helped on will have to hold me over

I'm of the opinion that the AI is nowhere near the level of the GalCiv 2 AI. It still needs a lot of work and a lot of refinement.

I tend to agree with you. But, this happens to all games. Once again it's better to just wait 6mos to a year before buying it and get the reduced price you will get too when it is actually patched in a better condition.

I'm of the opinion that the AI is nowhere near the level of the GalCiv 2 AI. It still needs a lot of work and a lot of refinement.

That's because the current AI in GC2 had years of development, much of it post release. The AI in GC3 is already pretty good but it's in many ways a larger more complex game than GC2 and FrogBoy hasn't had as long to work on it.

I fully expect it to go on improving with regular patches for years.

I have no problem admitting that I'm a mediocre player and that the AI is currently more than good enough for my purposes.